BANKER’S RECAPTURE Britain seeks explanation

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 17

BANKER’S RECAPTURE Britain seeks explanation

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

SALISBURY, February 25.

The Rhodesian Minister of Law and Order (Mr Desmond LardnerBurke) will make a full statement to Parliament today about the recapture of the British-born banker, Kenneth Mclntosh.

Now back in prison, McIntosh, aged 36, had served about 10 months of a 14-year term for economic espionage and currency offences when he escaped from Salisbury’s maximum security prison ori February 4. Last night, the British Government said that he had been handed over to the Rhodesians by the Mozambique frontier police last Saturday while the British Consul in Beira was on his way to the Vila da Manica border post to meet him. A Foreign Office spokesman in London said that the British Government wanted an explanation from the Portuguese authorities about how and why Mclntosh was handed over.

In Lisbon, a Portuguese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that he was unaware of any British inquiry, but said that his Government was seeking further information about the incident from the Portuguese High Commissioner in Mozambique (Admiral Victor Crespo). Last night’s British statement followed persistent

rumours in Salisbury that Mclntosh had made his way to Mozambique after his escape, although the Rhodesian police have refused to go beyond saying that he was arrested last Saturday when trying to enter Mozambique. According to the rumours, he was found last Thursday, walking along a railway line inside Mozambique, less than half a mile from the Rhodesian border. He is believed to have been taken to Vila da Manica, about 12 miles away. The London statement said that the local police had agreed to hold him there I until the British Consul (Mr Alan Featherstone) arrived ifrom Beira.

! Mozambique is being governed by a transitional : government dominated by :the Frelimo African Nationalist Movement prior to achieving full independence from Portugal in June. Mclntosh’s wife, Anne, said last night: “I imagine the Mozambique authorities responded to pressure, but that, of course, is supposition."